Hancock’s back for another round of TV glory, with the trailer for Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins finally releasing today. According to chief instructor Billy Billingham, Matt wasn’t given any slack in the gruelling show, revealing:
“In the interrogation bit, he gets destroyed, absolutely destroyed. At the time I thought, ‘Oh, hang on, maybe this is a bit much?’ But no, he deserved it.”
The series kicks off on 26th September. Matt claimed it was “one of the toughest physical and mental things” he’s ever done. The £45,000 cheque should help ease the pain…
The Creative Diversity Network, the non-profit founded by the major UK broadcasters to drive the case for diversity and inclusion, released a report in Spring 2020 outlining the state of diversity across five major broadcasters, analysing 30 channels in the UK. The report found that broadcast TV is in fact highly representative of BAME communities in particular, noting that BAME people make up 12.9% of the working population of the UK yet make up 22.7% of on screen contributions. Why is the BBC now spending £100 million it doesn’t have on producing more diverse content?
The report concludes that:
“On-screen we find that many of the diversity groups – transgender, over-50s, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and disabled people – are represented at a higher rate than they are off-screen. This is particularly so for those who identify as BAME (22.7% on-screen contributions, 12.3% off-screen), and those who identify as transgender (0.8% on-screen, 0.2% off-screen).”
“While those who identify as female, transgender, BAME and lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) are all represented at levels comparable with (or above) national population estimates, those aged 50 or over (36% of population) are under-represented across nearly all genres (24.6%), with the exception of entertainment (38.1%) and leisure (35.3%).”
The real on-screen diversity broadcasters are seriously lacking is not ethnic minorities, it’s older people…
The BBC has announced its General Election TV offering. Here are the dates for your diary…
- 9 May – Theresa May and her husband Philip appear on BBC’s One Show
- 22 May – Theresa May interviewed by Andrew Neil on BBC One at 7pm
- 23 May – Paul Nuttall interviewed by Andrew Neil on BBC One at 7pm
- 24 May – Tim Farron interviewed by Andrew Neil on BBC One at 7pm
- 25 May – Nicola Sturgeon interviewed by Andrew Neil on BBC One at 7pm
- 26 May – Jeremy Corbyn interviewed by Andrew Neil on BBC One at 7pm
- 31 May – Mishal Husain hosts seven-way debate on live on BBC One featuring “senior Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Green Party and UKIP figures”. But who?
- 2 June – David Dimbleby hosts Question Time Special in which Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn face audience questions consecutively. May and Corbyn on the same show, though not together.
- 4 June – David Dimbleby hosts second Question Time Special in which Tim Farron and Nicola Sturgeon face audience questions consecutively.
- 4 June – Special ‘Election Questions to Plaid Cymru’ leader Leanne Wood from Swansea ‘Election Questions to UKIP leader Paul Nuttall’ from Bristol.
- 6 June – Newsbeat Youth debate on with an audience of 16-34 year olds hosted by Tina Daheley in Manchester.
Remember the ITV Leaders’ Debate will air on Thursday May 18th at 8pm, moderated by Julie Etchingham. Corbyn’s team have said he will not appear if May refuses to take part…
